It's a snowy, rainy, sleety day here in little ol' Delaware. Would you believe we got over a foot of snow overnight? And the NWS says we're in for another 2-4 inches of the white stuff this evening. We here in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast love our Nor'easters, don't we?
Well, in honor of this February weather treat, we dip back into Four Topps for a look at card no. 668. I guess Random.org wasn't in the mood to dole out a decent number for such a glum day. Not that it matters, I suppose; the plan is to go through all 792 cards from each Topps set spanning 1987 to 1990.
Okay, here we go...
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| 1987 |
When I see guys like this in card sets from nearly three decades okay, I can't help but think to myself, A player like this would never make the Topps sets of present day. Twenty-first century Topps cares more about having five Puig or Harper cards in their 660-card base set than giving some lesser names a moment in the sun. Oh well, I'm sounding old. Hey, Stat Man: Bonilla batted .243 in 284 ABs with one homer for the Birds in 1986.
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| 1988 |
A great action shot of former Met hurler Walt Terrell. I know a lot of collectors are put off by chopped off limbs, as is the case with Terrell's right leg. But, I have a much easier time with a pitcher's back leg getting cropped than I would, say, his pitching arm. That seems to happen a lot in today's sets. Hey, Stat Man: Terrell won a career-high 17 games for the Tigers in 1987.
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| 1989 |
Yes, it's your run-of-the-mill portrait shot, but this Mike Bielecki card gets bonus points for the Wrigley Field backdrop. You can see the populated left field bleachers plus half the iconic center field scoreboard over his right and left shoulders, respectively. Hey, Stat Man: Bielecki, who had 12 wins over his first five years combined, etched 18 victories for Chicago during the 1989 season.
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| 1990 |
Joe Oliver's rookie card happened to be one of my favorites from the 1990 set back when I was a kid. Again, it all goes back to me being a pudgy little catcher who admired any man who wore shinguards or took up the heavily padded mitt. Oliver is having more fun than anyone should, or at least it appears that way when this photo was snapped. Baseball, after all, is fun, right? Hey, Stat Man: Oliver batted .333 (6-for-18) with 2 RBIs for the Reds in the 1990 Fall Classic.
And the Winner Is: This wasn't the strongest foursome of cards to begin with, but it's nonetheless a slam dunk for me. The '90 Oliver gets supremacy of card no. 668. The '88 Terrell gets the runner-up position.
MK
I think I like the 87 Juan Bonilla the most. The combination of the batting practice backdrop, the orange BP jersey, the "Super Mario" mustache, and the hairy caveman arms is just great.
ReplyDeleteI'm becoming more and more surprised by how much I'm liking the cards from the '90 set (though I probably would've gone with the Bielecki). Maybe it's because of the sets it's being compared to.
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